Pear and Frangipane tart

I  am not in the habit of starting with a picture so you know I am a little bit chuffed with this.

This is a Gordon Ramsay recipe, I believe possibly the first time I have tried one of his. I like to look at him in a 'weird  crush' kind of way, but have never bought one of his books before.

He starts this recipe by saying how extremely easy it is. As I was following the stages, I rolled my eyes and thought how these chefs have a different idea of easy to us mere mortals. However after it was finished I changed my mind. Once you've done it once it seems very straight forward and I would do it again happily.

Seasonal - I love the idea but wonder how easy chefs think it is to budget and plan seasonal menus when cooking for a family and going to work ( though I know supermums who do it). Buying some seasonal fruit and veg when you have time though is now an effort I am prepared to make. Pears that are normally tastless and boring are, in season, delicious and in need of a kitchem paper bib to catch the juice. I am converted - rant over.

My tip - don't buy you pears to long, I had to cut the ends off mine to get them to fit.

Tart:
- 300g ready made puff pastry (try and get the best one you can)
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tsp of water, to glaze
- 2 large or 3 medium ripe pears

Sugar syrup:
- 50g caster sugar
- 50ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- juice of 1 lemon

Frangipane:
- 75g unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
- 75g icing sugar
- 1 medium egg lightly beaten
- 75g ground almonds
- 2 tbsp plain flour
1 1/2 tsp amaretto

Pre heat your oven 190 c/gas 5. Gordon adds at this point that it's best not to use a fan assisted oven for this. I don't have a double oven so had no choice and mine was fine.

Lay out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. If you have bought a block rather than a sheet of pastry roll it out to the thickness of a pound coin.
Use a 20 cm round tin/dish to cut a circle from it. Transfer the pastry to a baking sheet. Lightly score a 1.5 cm edge all the way around it. Brush the rim with the egg wash then chill while you prepare the rest.

Place all the ingredients for the syrup in a small saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up and simmer for 10 minutes until it has reduced slightly, then leave to cool.

Next, beat together the butter and sugar then slowly add the egg until fully Incorporated. Add the almonds and flour and fold though. mix in the amaretto and leave to stand for five minutes.

This is when I started thinking, 'easy Gordon, really?'. Peel the pears and cut in half lenthways. remove the core then cut into slices/wedges lengthways. place them in a bowl and pour over the syrup.

OK lets put it all together. Spread the frangipane over the pastry ensuring you don't the glazed rim is clear. pick the pears out of the syrup and drain on some kitchen paper 9 keep the syrup). Arrange the pears on top of the frangipane,fanning them around. Sift over a little icing sugar. Bake until the pears are tender and the filling is golden and set, about 35 - 45minutes. Leave to cool and, if you like, brush with some of the syrup.

I would of taken a picture on a lovely plate but it unfortunately got eaten before that was possible. Shame!